Deals of the day-Mergers and acquisitions

Feb 12 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2100 GMT on Monday:

** Aurubis AG, Europe’s biggest copper smelter, is in advanced negotiations to sell its flat rolled products unit to German cooper products company Wieland-Werke AG as Aurubis looks to expand into other metals besides copper.

** Chinese conglomerate Fosun is set to acquire a majority stake in France’s oldest surviving couture label Lanvin, as the fashion house faces a cash crunch following a slump in sales, sources close to the matter said.

** The investment house owned by UK investor Neil Woodford has nearly doubled its stake in Crest Nicholson to 10.34 percent, becoming the UK housebuilder’s top investor, a regulatory filing showed.

** Canada’s Bank of Nova Scotia said it had agreed to buy investment firm Jarislowsky Fraser for C$950 million mostly in stock.

** Danish telecoms company TDC urged investors on Monday to back a $6.7 billion cash offer from Australia’s Macquarie and three Danish pension funds who promised to invest in the country’s digital infrastructure.

** U.S. defense contractor General Dynamics Corp said it would buy CSRA Inc, a smaller provider of government services for about $6.8 billion, to expand the services it offers to the U.S. Department of Defense.

** Rupert Murdoch’s Twenty-First Century Fox said it would commit to maintain Sky News in Britain for at least five years and would establish an independent board for the channel to try to secure its takeover of pay-TV operator Sky .

** German utility EnBW has made its first investment outside Europe as part of the group’s renewables expansion, taking stakes in three offshore wind projects in Taiwan with a volume of about 2 gigawatts.

** A consortium led by U.S. private equity firm Apollo that is seeking to buy the chemicals division of Dulux paintmaker Akzo Nobel has added a Dutch pension firm to its team, the Financial Times reported.

** Czech utility CEZ has postponed a decision on the sale of its remaining Bulgarian assets while it tries to work out their value, a spokesman for the company said, confirming a local newspaper report over the weekend.

** Sweden’s MTG said it had been informed by TDC that the Danish operator’s board intends to withdraw its recommendation of a deal with MTG to combine its Nordic Entertainment and MTG Studios businesses with TDC.

** Saga Plc, a British tourism and insurance group for the over-50s, said it had signed a quota share deal with NewRe and German reinsurer Hannover Re to take on 80 percent of the motor underwriting risk of its in-house underwriter AICL.

** Holding company BGEO said on Monday its investment arm, Georgia Capital, would increase its stake in the Bank of Georgia to 19.9 percent, up from the previously announced 9.9 percent, ahead of a planned demerger of the two units.

** Euromoney, a business to business information company, said it agreed to sell its Global Markets Intelligence Division (GMID) to a consortium led by CITIC Capital Partners for $180.5 million, selling off a non-core unit.

** Rig firm Seadrill, which last year filed for bankruptcy protection in a U.S. court, is working towards a comprehensive deal with all its creditors that could be concluded this week, it said in a court filing late on Friday.

** Amazon.com Inc paid about $90 million to acquire the maker of Blink home security cameras late last year, in a secret bet on the startup’s energy-efficient chips, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

** Comcast Corp is considering a new offer for Rupert Murdoch’s Twenty-First Century Fox assets, despite an agreement in December to sell them to Walt Disney Co for $52.4 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

** Qualcomm Inc and Broadcom Ltd plan to meet on Wednesday to talk about the latter’s $121 billion acquisition offer, the first time the semiconductor companies will discuss the potential deal, people familiar with the matter said.

** Takata Corp’s U.S. unit reached a settlement with its creditors, lawyers for those injured by its deadly air bags and automakers that smoothes the way to end its Chapter 11 bankruptcy and sell its viable operations, according to court papers.

** South African tycoon Christo Wiese has cut his stake in retailer Steinhoff International, which has been embroiled in an accounting scandal, to 6.2 percent, regulatory filings show.

** A consortium led by India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has become the first group to win a stake in Abu Dhabi National Oil Co’s (ADNOC) 40-year offshore oil concession, a deal set to help the UAE expand its foothold in Asia.

** Intesa SanPaolo expects a partial sale of its debt collection unit won’t take long and looks with particular interest at Sweden’s Intrum Justitia, though China’s CEFC is also interested, the Italian bank’s chairman said.

** Bayer needs to ensure that a merger with rival Monsanto does not stifle competition in digital farming, the European Union’s Competition Commissioner Margrethe Verstager told a German newspaper on Saturday.

** Qatari investment fund Mayhoola, which owns Italian fashion house Valentino, and Chinese conglomerate Fosun, the company behind French tourism group Club Med, are vying to acquire a majority stake in struggling French fashion house Lanvin, two sources familiar with the talks said.

** Saudi Basic Industries Corp’s (SABIC) move to buy a quarter stake in Clariant is better than the planned merger with U.S.-based Huntsman that was blocked last year by activist investors, the Swiss chemical maker’s CEO said.

** Alibaba Group Holding will pay about 5.45 billion yuan ($866 million) for a 15 percent stake in China’s Easyhome, a home improvement chain, as the internet giant expands its investments in offline and retail businesses. (Compiled by Sonam Rai and Akankshita Mukhopadhyay in Bengaluru)